Newbie alternative to Arch?

GERGE · 2008-10-22 10:20:15

Not that I'm going to use it but take a look: http://www.linuxmint.com/rel_elyssa_fluxbox.php

This would be the one I would install to my mother's pc.

filou.linux · 2008-10-22 10:30:51

Ok, thanks for info. Convey my greetings to her!

molom · 2008-10-22 12:54:40

I would never touch that edition, look at the system specs (Written about it on my blog). Its 512mb of Ram recommended and there are significant probabilities of it freezing during installation with Ram from 256-512mb. Anything under 256mb is highly unrecommended. So its a no go for me. I would stick to Antix if you wanted an easier way out. Antix can run on machines with 64mb of Ram. That edition really defeats the purpose of Fluxbox, but all the other editions (KDE, Gnome and XFCE) are really impressive.

Reploid · 2008-10-22 16:42:36

I am likely setting up Linux Mint for a friend tomorrow. He is a 100% anti-computer type of guy, but given how his XP has gotten so extremely slow and buggy, I've managed to convince him. Thought I would have his iPod and stuff set up the fastest and clicki-buntuest way with Mint. We'll see.

Xinix · 2008-10-22 17:12:00

I don´t know, but I still prefer MEPIS over Mint. MEPIS, although derived from Debian, is more a distro in its own right than Mint if you ask me. And it has a superb KDE implementation. But hey, there's no accounting for tastes.....

amranu · 2008-10-22 17:15:23

Foresight linux?

mentallaxative · 2008-10-22 17:20:58

molom wrote:

I would never touch that edition, look at the system specs (Written about it on my blog). Its 512mb of Ram recommended and there are significant probabilities of it freezing during installation with Ram from 256-512mb. Anything under 256mb is highly unrecommended. So its a no go for me. I would stick to Antix if you wanted an easier way out. Antix can run on machines with 64mb of Ram. That edition really defeats the purpose of Fluxbox, but all the other editions (KDE, Gnome and XFCE) are really impressive.

That's no good. I hoped it would be more 'lightweight' than its meatier Gnome/KDE/Xfce cousins given it uses Fluxbox.

flowheat · 2008-10-22 18:34:33

Mint was my last stop before moving on to Arch. It's the perfect beginner distro. Its the custom mint tools that really make it newb friendly.

MintUpdate is great because it actually rates how dangerous updates are on a 1-5 scale so if you're setting it up for a friend you can actually set it up so it only shows level 1 or 2 updates and this will allow them to update their system with minimal risk.

MintInstall is also nice their .mint install system is similar to PKGBUILDs in that it allows users to create installation packages that can then be one-click installed from the MintInstall system. This helps make some of the more complicated installations fairly straightforward to a new user.

There's a bunch of other custom mint tools that I won't go into here. Plus they ship with all the codecs which is always a plus for new users.

Anyway just my 2 cents, but Mint is definitely the distro I recommend to new Linux users.

creslin · 2008-10-22 18:39:40

What distros do you recommend to newbies?

molom · 2008-10-22 23:24:14

@Reploid
Your friend shouldn't have a problem, Mint is probably one of the best out of the box distros available in my view.

@Xinix
To tell the truth, I haven't tried Mepis, will do soon and make a review.

@creslin
True, true.

mintcoffee · 2008-10-23 00:37:55

Ubuntu works well enough and has enough support that a simple google search usually leads to the appropriate link. I started using Linux with Ubuntu Warty and I've been running a Ubuntu server box for the past couple months and had absolutely no maintenence trouble. Face it, Ubuntu is popular for a reason

JawsThemeSwimming428 · 2008-10-23 00:45:01

It would definitely be either Mepis or Mint. Right now, probably Mepis because that is what I use (along with Arch) and I have a lot more experience with it. I am messing around with Mint and loving every minute of it.

Megamixman · 2008-10-23 01:59:15

Arch Linux itself.
Let them learn early on. That way they can be more self-sufficient.
It's also best to get them into the thick of things before they get lazy from other distros

ashyanbhog · 2008-10-23 11:21:01

Dont know why its so unpopular, but Mandrake was my first distro, and even 5 yrs ago when I started using it, WinXP looked so dumb. If their development is still on track, the new Mandriva 2009 should be a great Linux distro.

Llama · 2008-10-24 07:57:31

PCLinuxOS is a very good newbie choice, IMO. The best Linux for grannies .

jordz · 2008-10-24 09:12:19

Megamixman wrote:

Arch Linux itself.
Let them learn early on. That way they can be more self-sufficient.
It's also best to get them into the thick of things before they get lazy from other distros

My parents pc is also running Arch. I installed gnome and configured it a bit for them.
They only need firefox, totem and openoffice. But if something goes wrong,
like I updated and went away for the weekend and didn't check if there was something important, they call that I need to fix it!
No way that they are willing to learn, it just needs to work like the average pc user.

molom · 2008-10-24 13:15:29

Megamixman wrote:

Arch Linux itself.
Let them learn early on. That way they can be more self-sufficient.
It's also best to get them into the thick of things before they get lazy from other distros

Or the best way to scare them back to Windows

Arch Linux

#1 2008-10-22 10:20:15

Newbie alternative to Arch?

#2 2008-10-22 10:30:51

Re: Newbie alternative to Arch?

#3 2008-10-22 12:54:40

Re: Newbie alternative to Arch?

#4 2008-10-22 16:42:36

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#5 2008-10-22 17:12:00

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#7 2008-10-22 17:20:58

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#8 2008-10-22 18:34:33

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Re: Newbie alternative to Arch?

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